Chapter 15 - The Police and the masked man
At a glance, it seemed like a situation where ’good and evil’ were clearly divided.
However, Jhin did not act rashly.
He carefully observed the two.
Because in Exodia, appearances don’t determine everything.
It was a world full of people who acted like angels on the outside but hid devils inside.
"Just because someone’s wearing a police uniform doesn’t mean they’re good," he thought.
Likewise, just because someone was wearing a mask didn’t mean they were automatically bad.
Maybe the person wore the mask to hide a terrible scar.
The same applied to the police.
If someone happened to steal that uniform, even a "policeman" could be a villain.
In Exodia, having an unbiased view was more important than anything.
But then—
"Who are you?"
"Y-you... Run! That’s dangerous over there!"
As the masked man snapped his fingers, flames erupted in front of them.
The policeman stretched out his hand, warning of the danger — everything happened in an instant.
From that alone, Jhin understood.
This time, appearances matched reality.
[Skill, ’Crisis Detection (B)’, is activated.]
Incidentally, he already knew an explosion was coming.
It was supposed to be a surprise attack, but to Jhin, it was so obvious — like a child’s prank.
"Compared to the Trial nexus, this is nothing..."
A dungeon where lava would surge up suddenly, the ground would collapse, arrows would fly from walls, ceilings would fall, or tidal waves would sweep through.
Having survived such a place, a situation like this wasn’t even threatening.
Most importantly, the ’Crisis Detection’ skill he activated back in the Trial nexus allowed him to sense danger before it happened.
Ambushes rarely worked against him anymore.
"First, I should assume that masked guy is the cause of all this."
Jhin calmly drew his longsword.
Even as the masked man snapped his fingers again to ignite flames, Jhin had already dodged out of the blast zone with ease.
"Even if I ask why you did it, you wouldn’t answer, would you?"
At the same time, he felt a slight tension.
It wasn’t because he was afraid.
"I’ll probably have to make my first kill."
That masked man was likely the one who cruelly killed people while clearing this dungeon.
Jhin had seen countless corpses on the way here and could piece it together.
They hadn’t been killed by monsters — most had died caught in explosions.
Thus, the masked man was a murderer.
In game terms, a PK trigger.
"That’s something you do in games, not here."
In Exodia, where players only had three lives, PK (player killing) was viewed as extremely malicious.
Anyone who initiated PK could be blacklisted by guilds and even have bounties placed on them.
They were called Red Players.
Dangerous people who repeatedly killed other players — public enemies who eroded the community from within.
Jhin had taken down quite a few of them before.
"Because of them, I almost failed missions several times."
Moreover, what the masked man had done was beyond any justification.
No matter his circumstances, PK was something that must be eradicated in Exodia.
Especially inside a dungeon, it was unforgivable.
Thus, there was no reason to feel guilt.
"Because of him, this dungeon could fail to be cleared."
Thankfully, Jhin caught him in time.
Had he been even a little later, a Dungeon Break would have occurred.
The dungeon would have evolved from E-rank to D-rank, and everyone who entered would have died helplessly.
...Thinking about it again, this guy was truly insane.
The masked man glared viciously at Jhin and said:
"Why don’t you mind your own business and go on your way?"
Maybe because Jhin had skillfully dodged several explosions, the man tried to negotiate.
Jhin shrugged and asked back:
"And you’ll just let me go?"
"You were not part of my original plan. If you quietly leave the dungeon now, I’ll let it slide."
"Oh..."
As Jhin pretended to consider it, the policeman suddenly shouted loudly:
"You can’t leave him! He’s a psychopathic serial killer who murdered seven people six months ago!"
...This guy was a bigger deal than expected.
And a particularly evil one at that.
"You hear that?" Jhin said, raising an eyebrow.
The masked man clicked his tongue and responded:
"Are you really going to meddle?"
"Meddling or not, you were the one who attacked first."
Jhin’s words became blunt.
"Honestly, I had no intention of just walking away anyway."
It didn’t really matter that the masked man was a "psychopathic serial killer" in his past life.
He had already killed many players in this dungeon.
Those victims hadn’t done anything wrong.
Moreover, the masked man had just tried to add Jhin’s name to the death list — right in front of him.
Letting him go? What a joke.
"You’re just a middle-aged man with a ’dark and edgy’ mask fetish."
"What?"
"You know the saying, ’With great power comes great responsibility’?"
Jhin loved action movies, especially ones featuring Spider-Man.
Recalling the words of the hero from the movie, he continued:
"That means it’s time for you to take responsibility for your actions."
Jhin’s eyes gleamed sharply.
[Skill, ’Crisis Detection (B)’, is activated.]
He dodged the explosion that burst toward him from the front — a move he’d predicted and prepared for.
[Skill, ’Ryu-an (A)’, is activated.]